34 PRUNING. 



tree. In the nurseries this practice of heading doAvn unthrifty trees ia 

 frequently pui-sued, and smaJ orchard trees which have become enfeebled 

 may be treated in the same manner, cutting back the head as far as the 

 place where it is wished that new shoots should spring out. Older trees 

 should be headed back more sparingly, unless they are greatly enfeebled, 

 and their roots should at the same time be assisted by manure. 



A judicious pruning, to modify the form of our standard trees, is 

 nearly all that is required in ordinary practice. Evei-y fruit-iree, grown 

 in the open orchard or garden as a common standard, should be aUowed 

 to take its natural form, tlie whole efforts of the pruner going no further 

 than to take out all weak and crowded branches^ those which are filling 

 uselessly the intei-ior of the ti-ee, where their leaves cannot be duly 

 exposed to the light and sun, or those which interfere with the growth 

 of others. All pruning of large branches in healthy trees should be 

 avoided, by examining them every season and taking out superfluous 

 shoots while small. Mr. Coxe, the best American author on fruit-trees, 

 remarks very truly : " When orchard trees are pruned, they are apt to 

 throw out numerous (superfluo\is) suckers from the boughs in the follow- 

 ing summer ; these should be rubbed off when they first appear, or they 

 may easily be broken ofi' while young and brittle — cvitting is apt to 

 increase their number." 



Where pruning is not required to renovate the vigor of an enfeebled 

 tree, or to regulate its shape, — in other words, in the case of a healthy 

 tree which we wish to retain in a state of the gj-eatest luxuriance, health, 

 and vigor, — it may be considered worse than useless. Beai-ing in miiid 

 that growth is always cori-esponding to the action of the leaves and 

 branches, if these are in due proportion and in perfect health, the kjiife 

 will always be found rather detrimental to luxuriance and constitutional 

 vigor than beneficial. * 



The best season for pruning to promote groicth, theoretically, is in 

 autumn, soon after the fall of the leaf. Next to this, winter pruning, 

 performed in mild Aveather, is best, and in orchards this is the season 

 usually most convenient.! In all parts of the countiy where the "v\TJiters 

 are not very severe (and always in the Southern or Western States) the 

 roots are collecting a certain stock of nourishment during the whole 

 autiimn and winter. When a tree is pruned m autumn or M"inter this 

 whole supply goes to the remaining branches, while in the case of spring 

 pruning it is partly lost. North of the 43d degi-ee of latitude, however, 

 the winters are so severe that winter-pruning should be deferred till the 

 last of February. 



We should especially avoid pruning at that period in spring when 



* Ig-norant cultivators frequently weaken the energies of young trees, and 

 cause them to grow up "wath lean and slender stems, by injudiciously trimming 

 off the young side shoots and leaves in the growing season. By taking off these 

 shoots the stem is deprived of all the leaves which would attract and elaborate 

 the sap, thus preparing nourishment for the growth of the stem ; and the trunk 

 of the tree does not increase in size half so fast as when the side branches are 

 allowed to remain for a time, pruning them away gTadually. It is better, in the 

 case of these j'oung trees, to stop the side branches, when of moderate length, by 

 pinching out the terminal bud. 



f Experience of many years convinces lis that, whatever theory may sug- 

 gest, the befit time to prune in order to p'-omote growth, and to have the wound 

 healed perfectly, is very early in spring, or as soon as the severity of winter haa 

 passed. 



